Tag: baptism

Baptism Is about New Life

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life1 Comment

The ordinance of baptism illustrates our freedom and new life in Jesus Christ. It’s an outward picture of what has taken place in our hearts when we surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.

Baptism is very important. The New Testament urges every one of us to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of sin that He won for us on the cross. We’re going to see why it’s so important, what it pictures, and why Christ calls us to be baptized.

Baptism Identifies You as a Follower of Jesus

Every year, the NFL holds a draft where each team announces whom they have chosen, and you see the athlete stand up with joy and excitement on his face. He goes on to the stage and poses there with the commissioner and holds up the jersey with the team’s name on it. Everyone cheers and congratulates him. It’s significant because from then on, you begin to think of that athlete not just as their own name, but as a Cowboy or a 49er or a Seahawk. In some sense, the team they have joined has now become part of their identity.

The significance of identifying with Christ is infinitely more important, but that is a picture of what it means to be baptized. 

It’s a very public statement. It’s a way of demonstrating to all those who are witnesses that you are not the same person you once were. You have switched teams on the cosmic scale. You are no longer living for the world, the devil, or the flesh. You are living for Christ.

You’re telling everyone, “I’m with Jesus. He’s my Lord and Savior. And I’m committing totally to His leadership in my life.” And you’re not just committing for the time being, as long as things go well. You’re committing to Team Jesus as a lifetime member.

Before ascending into the clouds above, Jesus told His followers how to begin reaching the world with the good news of His salvation. This is often called “The Great Commission.”

Jesus said:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)

Teaching them the Lord’s commands is what we do every time we gather for worship on Sunday and every time we study Scripture. But the first step in making disciples, Jesus says, is “baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” That’s the launching point for discipleship. It’s the first step showing your commitment to Christ.

Baptism Doesn’t Save you, but Christ Calls Every BELIEVER to be Baptized.

Some people ask, “Now, is baptism necessary for salvation?” Maybe you even grew up in a religious tradition teaching that you need to be baptized in order for your sins to wash away. And to that I say, “What about the thief on the cross?” He repented at the very last minute possible. 

That thief had just been hurling insults at Jesus an hour before. But when he saw the love Jesus had for even His enemies, and the way that Jesus was so clearly the Son of God, he believed. He repented and believed. He showed that faith by saying, “Jesus remember me when you’re reigning on high.” And Jesus didn’t turn to him and say, “Sorry, pal. You didn’t get baptized.” No, He gave him all the assurance he needed that he was forgiven: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43). 

The message of salvation is:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV)

Salvation is a gift; it cannot be earned. 

So does baptism save you? Absolutely not, otherwise the thief on the cross would be damned, not in paradise. But that doesn’t mean baptism isn’t important. It’s so important that Jesus included in the final words before His ascension.

Baptism is an Outward Expression of Our Union with Christ

Several years ago, I spoke with a woman about the gospel. I told her that forgiveness is a gift of God. It’s something we can’t earn. Salvation is all by grace, and all we have to do is repent and believe.

She tilted her head and said, “But see I have a problem with that.” I said, “What’s the problem?” And she said, “If people are told they don’t have to do anything to be saved, they’ll just go on living for themselves and hurting others like so many Christians throughout history have.”

I said, “You’re right that Christians haven’t been perfect throughout history. And many who have claimed to be Christians aren’t true Christians. But here’s what I know… when you come to Christ, you become a new creation. Not yet perfect in your daily life, but your life has a new direction because you are now united to Christ by His Holy Spirit.”

This woman’s objection to the gospel of grace has been around for 2,000 years, because Paul addressed that very topic:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2, NIV)

Paul is answering that same objection. Won’t grace mean we can just sin all we want? No! Paul uses the strongest negative here. It literally can be translated: “May it never be!”

Okay, but why, Paul? What’s to keep us from going on a sinning spree, and then celebrating God’s grace?

Answer: “We are those who have died to sin… How can we possibly live that way anymore?” Paul says we died to sin. Death is a pretty extreme word, and Paul uses it for that reason. He says, “We died (past tense, it already happened) to sin.” Okay, when did that happen?

At the cross. Paul’s saying that when Christ died on Calvary, I—in some sense—died, too! In God’s eyes, my old sin-loving self was staked to the cross with Jesus. His death becomes my death. My soul is now knit together with Him by faith.

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:3-5, NIV)

What’s all this saying? Union with Christ is what the gospel is all about. His death becomes our death. His resurrection life will be our resurrection life. It’s as though, by the awesome power of the Holy Spirit, we have been welded to Jesus with an unbreakable bond. What is true of Jesus is now true of us. If Jesus has defeated sin and death, then we too have victory over sin and death.

This is what baptism pictures. It’s all about our union with Christ.

When we go down into the water, we are identifying with His death. As we’re under the water, we are identifying with His burial. And as we come up out of the water, we are identifying with His glorious resurrection from the dead. Baptism is an outward symbol of our victory in Christ.

Water is often a picture of life in Scripture. But being baptized in water also helps us visibly understand the total immersion in Christ and the way He totally cleans us. The Greek word baptizo, where we get “baptized” and “baptism” simply means “immersion.”

So, Paul is saying our union with Christ is our “immersion into Christ Jesus.” That’s conversion. This is why I don’t believe sprinkling water on a baby’s head is what Jesus and the Apostles had in mind. It doesn’t capture the sense of total immersion and cleansing in Christ. And it emphasizes the act of baptism ahead of the true confession of belonging to Christ. A baby can’t proclaim the salvation God has already worked in their hearts, so I think in many ways it undercuts the purpose of baptism.

When we first come to Christ, we become so united to Him that you can even say we are “immersed in Him”— immersed in His grace, His love, and His goodness. All that He is fills us spiritually. That’s what it means to be baptized in the Spirit.

And once you are in Christ, you’re no longer in Adam. You are justified, no longer condemned. The power of sin is broken in your life. That’s what it means to be dead to sin. When you get baptized, you’re boldly expressing, “Sin has no claim on me. I no longer belong to the world; I belong to Jesus!”

Are you interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and what He’s done for you? I’d love to hear from you!

Why Should I Be Baptized?

On By Jason SmithIn Devotional, Theology for Life2 Comments
Jordan River Today

With the sun beating down on his head, a bronze-skinned man steps out onto the river bank. His lower half is still drenched and dripping with the Jordan River. He’s wrapped in a tunic made of camel’s hair. Hair and beard look unkempt. He seems to lack all sense of social convention. He is a portrait of a desert wanderer. The surrounding crowd on the shoreline cannot help but stare and listen to his brazen call to repent of wickedness. Having just emerged from the water, some are still soaked from head to toe.

He picks up his staff in one hand and raises the other toward the crowd. A knobby finger points like a dagger at a group of men in long clean robes: the Pharisees and Sadducees.

“Brood of vipers!” The desert man’s voice echoes off the stony river bank. All eyes are now staring at the religious leaders, who grimace with distaste.

“Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come!” the man bellows. While some are shocked, others recognize his boldness to confront sin is a clear sign of his prophetic calling of God. If John is a prophet, then he’s merely God’s mouthpiece. What he has to say truly comes from the Almighty. And yet, here he was confronting the religious aristocracy, the paragons of purity.

In one sense, these Pharisees and Sadducees carried an air of power and respectability wherever they went. The people noted their stringent piety and rigorous law-keeping. Nevertheless, the people so admired John the Baptist that these holy men looked like tongue-tied schoolchildren in his presence. They come only to observe, not to be baptized in the filthy river.

“Show fruit consistent with repentance!” John continued, eyes blazing like fire.

John’s Ministry of Baptism

Apparently, John didn’t have a public relations consultant. Why did he call these highly esteemed religious leaders a “brood of vipers”? Because they ignored the warnings of the wrath to come and led others to destruction. And, as John says, they didn’t bear fruit, showing they had not truly given their lives to the Lord.

This was John the Baptist’s entire ministry. He called people to repent of sin, return to faith in the one true God, and be baptized in the Jordan River.

John said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry” (Matthew 3:11).

This One “coming” was the Lord of the cosmos Himself. John the Baptist was always pointing others to look to Christ, not himself, for hope. He humbly confesses he’s not worthy to even carry the sandals of Jesus. But it’s not just humility; it’s a right view of how supremely worthy Jesus is.

Then he says of Jesus: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire…”

It’s important to realize that even though John says that he baptizes with water and Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, this doesn’t mean that water baptism is no longer necessary today. At the end of Matthew, Jesus Himself gives the command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19).

Though Christians don’t always agree on the purpose of baptism, Jesus seemed to present baptism as the inaugural event marking a new disciple of Christ.

Why Be Baptized?

It is important to understand that baptism does not save you. We are saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). Though Christians are called to good works, no good work—not even baptism—could save us from the tyranny of sin. Paul made the point that he was not sent with the primary objective of baptizing others, but of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:17).

The thief on the cross had no opportunity to be baptized before he died, yet the Lord assured him of his place in Paradise with Him that very day (Luke 23:43). It is only repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ that reconciles us to God. Having said that, followers of Christ are commanded by God to be baptized. The Bible never treats it as an optional “extra.” Local churches are called to baptize new believers after the pattern of the New Testament (Acts 2:38-41; 10:47; 16:14-15).

Baptism pictures our need for cleansing and restoration. But it also pictures our identification with Christ. Going down into the waters, we are identifying ourselves publicly with Christ’s death and our own death to sin. Coming out of the waters portrays both Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection with Him to new life (Romans 6:3-4). As we are baptized individually and as we see others baptized, we are reminded that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was for us personally.

And, as John says here, when we trust in Christ personally, we receive the Holy Spirit.[1]

The Winnowing Fork of Judgment

Why are repentance and baptism so important? John says of Jesus: “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12).

In ancient Israel, there was a practice called winnowing which allowed the farmer to separate the grain (or seeds) from the chaff, which were the husks that cover the seeds. When the farmer tossed the grain and the chaff into the air with the winnowing fork, the Middle Eastern wind would carry the lighter chaff to the side and the heavier grain would fall to the ground. He would gather the grain together to keep, and the chaff he would sweep together and toss into a fire.[2]

John is giving us a vivid picture of judgment. On the coming day of judgment, Jesus will gather the grain—those who are His own—to Himself. And the rest, He will cast into what He calls “the unquenchable fire.” This is a sobering and serious reminder that a judgment is coming, and if we don’t belong to Jesus, we are destined for eternal damnation (Matthew 10:28; Mark 9:43). John is making it clear that it is eternal by saying it is a fire that never goes out.

I want you to understand that the idea of eternal judgment was no more popular in Jesus’s day, 2,000 years ago, than it is today. While some may say that it is unloving to tell people about hell, John recognized that what would be truly unloving is not to warn people that a judgment is coming.[3]

God Himself pled with unrepentant Israel to return to Him and avoid judgment: 

“As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11, ESV)

This life is infinitesimally short in light of eternity. God says in His Word that your life is nothing more than a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). But eternity—that lasts forever! So where we spend eternity matters immensely.

This is why I, too, want to warn others. If Scripture is right that there is a coming judgment and that our own conscience testifies to this truth, then for me not to speak about hell would be unloving. I make a point to speak about it because I, too, am a sinner and have been rescued from judgment—Jesus has saved me. And so, I want to point to my Savior and say this offer of salvation is for all. No matter what you have done or where you have been in life, this free gift of salvation is offered to you!

Why Was Jesus Baptized?

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. (Matthew 3:13-15)

So, if water baptism represents cleansing from sin, why in the world is Jesus coming to the Jordan River be baptized here? After all, Jesus is the sinless Son of God in human flesh. Scripture always affirms that Jesus was and is “without sin” (Heb. 4:15). So why did He submit to baptism?

I think we see a clue as to why Jesus did this way back in the prophecy found in Isaiah 53:10. There we read that the sinless sufferer was “numbered with the transgressors.” Or, it could be translated as “[He] was counted among the rebels.”

Even though Jesus was perfect and sinless, He willingly chose, out of love, to identify with sinful mankind. Beginning with His coming at Christmas, to His baptism, and all the way to the cross, Jesus was humbly and lovingly saying, “I have come to identify with the very people who have rebelled against Me.” He came to die for the very rebels who were cursing Him, mocking Him, and crucifying Him. From the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In the context, He was speaking of the Jews and Romans that had Him killed. But in reality, He says that of all of us. We all have committed treason against the God who made us. We all deserve death. But Jesus was perfect. He willingly died in our place so that we could be forgiven and spared from all judgment.

In humbly consenting to water baptism, Jesus marked out a pattern for all His disciples to follow. In this way, He is not asking of us anything that He Himself did not willingly do.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17, ESV)

Scripture teaches that the one true God is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And here we see all Three in view. Jesus submitting to baptism, the Spirit descending upon Him to empower Him for ministry, and the Father’s voice from heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

If Jesus had never been baptized, this moment would have been missed. Now all who have repented and trusted in the Lord Jesus are reconciled to God, made new by the Holy Spirit, and are loved in the Beloved—even as Christ is loved by the Father (John 17:26). And if that’s you, friend, you are called to be baptized.

Have thoughts on this post? Feel free to comment below!

[1] “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13, ESV). Also see Romans 8:9-11.

[2] Thanks to David Platt for his explanation of this process in his commentary Exalting Jesus in Matthew.

[3] See Ezekiel 33, where the Lord says that the watchman who sees the sword of judgment coming but fails to warn others will have their blood on his hands.